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By Michael - November 22nd, 2013 
It was with an overwhelming sense of shock that I learned on Tuesday that the world had lost Diane Disney Miller, first daughter of Walt Disney and the founder of the Walt Disney Family Museum, to a lingering injury brought on by a fall in September. It continues to seem unthinkable that Diane could be gone; even at the age of 79 she remained fit as a fiddle, sharp as a tack, and as spry as a woman twenty years her junior. While I can’t imagine the loss felt by her family and friends, to the rest of us – mere fans, at most – the loss still weights heavily.
Continue reading Diane
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By Michael - November 22nd, 2013  Disneyland, closed for the day, on November 23, 1963, following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963
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By Michael - November 19th, 2013 Since yesterday’s post centered prominently on doughy rich old white guys, I thought we’d continue the theme today with some vintage Floridian titans of industry from 1965.
Walt Disney World, in many ways, came to be during the last great renaissance of the doughy rich old white guy. Flush with the spoils of the post-war boom, they had the power to do anything; at their whim they could send you to the moon, to southeast Asia, or into the offices of their enemies’ psychologists. Before Silicon Valley started making billionaires out of high school students, they ruled the roost with an endless stream of steaks, martinis, and TWA stewardesses. They didn’t have to look good on TV; they only had to have the speaking skills required to handle a Rotarian pancake supper. While doughy rich old white guys obviously persist to this day, they’ve taken a bit of a back seat to the younger generation, who are notably less doughy thanks to the discovery of cocaine and gym memberships.
Anyway…
Back in 1965, when the Disney World project was first announced, doughy rich old white guys were large and in charge – specifically, in charge of the Florida Development Commission. And when Walt and Roy Disney arrived in Orlando in November 1965 to unveil their new project, they were greeted by a phalanx of local notables and wanna-bes eager to hitch their wagon to the entertainment titans. Disney was bringing a level of investment to central Florida matched only by the previous arrival of the aerospace industry, and every local chamber of commerce wanted a piece of the pie.
And so, soon after the November 15, 1965 press conference revealing the project, the Florida Development Commission produced this film to herald the opportunities soon on the way to the Sunshine State. Hosted by the effervescent Florida governor and erstwhile Bela Lugosi impersonator Haydon Burns, it travels around the state to talk to notables about the impending impact of Disney’s arrival. We see Dick Pope, of Cypress Gardens, expressing his ironic delight about Disney World, apparently unaware that 45 years later his southern belles would be supplanted by LEGO counterparts. We even pay a visit to poor ol’ Leonard Hutchinson up on the “Miracle Strip”.
The reason for everyone’s excitement, of course, was the boom that sleepy little Anaheim had seen in the decade since Disneyland arrived. They even had baseball! Note the hilarity of the narrator enviously intoning about Anaheim’s success while we see images of hopelessly clogged highways; but hey, at least there’s a good shot of the old Disneyland billboard.
It’s also interesting to see how the film introduces Disney and Walt Disney Productions. First, the clips introducing Walt are just generally amazing. But it’s fascinating to see how the Disney studio presented itself in 1965 versus how it would, say, today.
Also interesting is how there’s an obvious tie between Disney’s success at the 1964/65 New York World’s Fair and the Disney World development. I love the footage of the Fair, of course, and it’s clear in retrospect just how much a trial balloon the Fair was.
And, lastly, it’s entertaining to see Walt at the press conference. I’m especially a sucker for his obvious affection for Roy. But as with so many things from this era, it just makes me think… what if he’d laid off the smoking… what if he’d stuck around… who knows?
Anyway, here’s the film. Pour a martini (or some Florida orange juice) and enjoy.
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By Michael - November 18th, 2013 “So,” my millions of fans have asked, “now that you occasionally write for the D23 website will you give up on Progress City?” The answer, of course, is certainly not – the only thing keeping me from writing for Progress City is sheer laziness. But aside from that, there’s plenty that I need to write about that could never appear in any reputable outlet. For one thing, there’s the super intensely nerdy types of stories, that no mass audience would ever care about. And then, of course, there are stories like this – stories about hookers.
As the eyes of the nation turned towards Orlando in October of 1982 for the grand opening of EPCOT Center, they witnessed the arrival of a new theme park based – quite proudly and vocally – on the American free enterprise system. So closely was EPCOT’s development tied to some of the world’s largest corporations, that I’m pretty sure Card Walker would mumble “free enterprise” in his sleep; he would certainly bring it up at the drop of a hat.
“Free enterprise” was critical for EPCOT’s completion, because it was such a large and expensive project; the Disney of 1982 certainly couldn’t fund it on their own, and corporate participants were necessary to underwrite the massive pavilions. This meant nearly a decade of wining and dining doughy rich old white guys with endless steak dinners and pitchers of cocktails; it meant endless private jet flights and limo rides to corporate headquarters, with dinner, drinks, and a show afterwards. And it meant that when the park opened, all these doughy rich old white guys headed down to Orlando to see what their millions had bought, and to check out their new corporate VIP lounges. And this is where the hookers come in!
Free enterprise, after all.
Props to MBI Sgt. Richard Klawe (seriously?) for saying the prostitutes were coming down to “commemorate the opening of Epcot.” Even prostitutes were excited for the 21st century to begin! Surely this was the sauciest thing to happen in central Florida since the Lake Buena Vista key party pandemic of ’76.
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By Michael - October 7th, 2013 
A week ago, on October 1st, fans marked the 30th anniversary of the Epcot Center classic, Horizons. A cursory peek at the internet, or a Twitter search for the hashtag #Horizons30, would reveal that I’m not the only one who regards Horizons as the greatest ride ever created for a Disney theme park. Horizons was by far my favorite ride as a kid, and nothing that has come since has surpassed it in my esteem. It’s a ride that really had something to say, and presented an unironic view of a type of future that we, as a society, seem to have completely abandoned since the 1980s. Horizons was a masterpiece, and was crammed full of highly memorable moments which made quite an impression on young minds.
What’s most amazing is that nearly 15 years after its closure, Horizons seems as popular as ever. After years of fans creating their own Horizons t-shirts, Disney has occasionally dabbled in Horizons logo merchandise in recent years to great success. There’s even a virtual re-creation of the ride in the works, by someone who never even had the chance to see the original. So great looms the legend of this attraction, that it’s earned an entire generation of fans which never even saw it in person, and simply know it from internet videos and other retrospectives.
There’s very little to say about Horizons that hasn’t been said already; if I haven’t made myself clear so far, I miss it terribly. It represents an outlook and a style of presentation that’s sorely missing these days.
You can find all of my previous Progress City articles about Horizons here, including a detailed look at the attraction from 1983. I also wrote a series of brief stories for D23 last week, including some rare photos of the pavilion under construction. The stories include:
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The Progress City Primer
 From the Progress City archives comes this collection of 33 tall tales and true from Disney history. Available in paperback, hardback, and ebook formats. |
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